place

Neither London, nor New York, nor Tokyo. The largest city in the world is a place that you have never heard

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We recently told something we sensed, but there were no data to confirm it. For a long time it was thought that we were 8,000 million people on the planet, but a study calculated that we had left Between 1,000 and 3,000 million along the way. It is not a trivial figure, and gives an idea of ​​the “massification” of people on earth. If we add to this that most live in cities, the thing is complicated a little more. In fact, there is only one city that has two records: it is the bigger and the most populatedand possibly you had never heard of her. Colossal and unknown. To the question of the world’s largest city, many candidates may be repeated: London, New York, Tokyo… However, none of those well -known cities really holds the title, neither by total nor surface population. No, the true urban giant is found in China and is a name that the general public is unknown: Chongqing. This monumental metropolis, located in the geographical heart of the country, where the Yangtsé and Jialing rivers cross, has not only become the city with the greater number of inhabitants in its jurisdiction, but also in the most extensive on the planet, with More than 82,400 square kilometersan extension comparable to entire countries such as Ireland or Austria. Context. However, its real size is not easily perceived from the outside, this occurs especially because much of Its territory is ruraland because its urban structure challenges all cartographic logic, built on steep slopes, deep valleys and high urban platforms that force its residents to move between tunnels, phones, stairs, elevators and catwalks that intersect as in an endless vertical dream. A three -dimensional city. More than a flat city, Chongqing is a three -dimensional urban phenomenon, as vertical as expansive, as abruptly as unbeatable. In fact, He told the Guardian Architecture critic Oliver Wainwright when describing his experience there Like a mixture Between the Inception movie and a snake and stairs game. In Chongqing, what seems like the ground floor can actually be the roof of a thirty -story building, and moving a few apples can involve changing levels five times. Its urban design, far from following a classic pattern, Respond to the mountainous topography which forces the neighborhoods clinging to the cliffs since the subway lines cross housing buildings. In such a context, even maps lose meaning: the city is only understood in motion, from within and in all directions. The Chinese city in dusk More than an inflated statistic. Plus: Although it may seem that its classification as “the greatest” is based on administrative technicalism, the argument goes beyond the mere surface. While the urban area occupies a much smaller portion of the total, More than 70% of the population (about 33 million inhabitants) lives within that area concentrated, a figure that exceeds any other city in the world. In addition, Chongqing is not a recent experiment or a planned city overnight: its history goes back to More than 3,000 yearswith a key role as regional capital, strategic river port and even logistics node before the Qing dynasty. The city already had more than two million inhabitants before the economic reforms of 1968 that opened China to the globalized world. From that moment on, growth It was vertiginous: 6.3 million in 1979, 13.9 million in 1983 and almost 29 million in 1997. The urbanized “China”. If you want too, Chongqing symbolizes the perfect model of Intensive urbanization That China has promoted in recent decades, with a state machinery that has doubled the urbanization rate of the country in twenty years, and that projects to reach 70% of urban population by 2050. Moreover, four of the five largest cities in the world by population within its administrative limits They are today in Chinareflex of a national process that has merged economic development with urban planning on a continental scale. Within that framework, the enclave not only represents a statistical feat, but a key piece of Chinese economic and territorial gear, a kind of megalopolis built on the basis of public investment, administrative reorganization and forced mobility towards urban poles. Touching roof. It is the last of the legs to analyze: its future. Like that of many other Chinese cities, he faces a new reality that we have gone counting: Stagnation and posterior Demographic decline of the country. Despite its colossal size and its central role in the economic growth of the nation, it may have already reached its maximum point. The new generations, less numerous and With other goals and valuesThey could reduce the expansion pressure that its recent history has defined. That said, even if it does not grow anymore, Chongqing will continue to be a unique city: with 33 million people And a territory that covers more than some states and countries combined, the city of impossible heights and asymmetric densities is already, in its own right, one of the most extreme urban expressions that humanity has conceived. Image | JUUKEIHC, Kristoffer Trolle In Xataka | We thought we were 8,000 million people throughout the planet. Until some researchers began to make numbers In Xataka | In Japan there is no doubt that they live worse than 30 years ago. Literally, houses are getting smaller and smaller

A controversial hippie community wanted a remote place in which to celebrate its lunar party. And Huesca has chosen

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Abellada is A town of the municipal term of Sabiñánigo, in Huesca, which has just been swelling the growing list of ghost peoples of The emptied Spain. A quick look comes with the help of satellite photos of Google Maps to verify that today there are little more than a church and a handful of collapsed houseswith sunken roofs, naked beams and facades overcome by time and weeds. That has not prevented Abellada from being held today in the Aragonese press and nationaljust like did it in 2016. Then, like now, the person responsible is an organization that a priori has little to do with the Rural Oscense: the organization Rainbow communitybetter known by its original name in English, The Rainbow Family. What happened? The news He advanced it last week Diario del Alto Aragón: The rainbow community has chosen the ghost town of Abellada to celebrate one of its annual meetings, the Rainbow Gatheringswhich usually last a lunar cycle (more or less a month) and are organized with tents. In fact, The newspaper requiresthe town has already arrived in the town that will be in charge of setting up the “Seed Camp” and the Civil Guard Comandancia itself Recognize have proof of a “settlement of the rainbow community in the Guarguera area”. “Control of the people who go to the place,” they guarantee. But … who are they? The rainbow community is somewhat a “non -organization of non -members”, as defined by the unofficial website WELCOME HOME! “We have no leaders or organization. To be sincere, the rainbow family means different things for each person.” Hence it is not easy to define it. Broadly speaking, the group was founded in the 1970s, in the US, with a clear hippie inspiration and starting from a philosophy of nonviolence, egalitarianism, absence of hierarchies and respect for the environment. In their meetings they seek to share experiences of community coexistence outside the cities. In fact The collective insists in which it is formed by “people who love the mother earth” and want to “live in harmony with nature.” And what do they do? That link explains that the Rainbow Gatherings are held in remote places, in the middle of nature. In fact Diario del Alto Aragón assures That people who are arriving in the region travel aboard buses or doing Caketop to get as much as possible to Abellada. The rest of the road to the camp covers it on foot, guiding themselves with clues like fabrics tied to trees. Other of its most striking peculiarities is that some members (not all) They are nudists. In their meetings a basically vegan diet is practiced, they are not allowed Neither alcohol nor drugs and can deny the use of electrical devices or cameras. Meetings serve to meditate, play music or do yoga. Why are they news? That rainbow community decides to settle temporarily in the Rural of Huesca is striking in itself, but so far the news has been involved in controversy rather than by the meeting itself (or its content) by how it is organizing. Although at the beginning of May to subdelegation of the Government I recognized Being that “a group of people” planned to settle temporarily in Alto Gállego, the newspaper claimed last week that the rainbow community seems not to have requested permission. “In the region we have no request for authorization,” assured The entity. In An article Published today, eldiario.es affects that same idea: the settlement lacks official permits, which is especially relevant if it is taken into account where it is located: in the peripheral area of ​​protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the protection of the Natural Park of the Sierra and Los Canons de Guara. In fact, the authorities of Alto Gállego have confirmed to the newspaper that in the entity there is still no record of any request for authorization. At the moment, yes, the sub -delegation confirms that the Civil Guard is “monitoring the situation”, especially to monitor the environmental regulations. And to date, he maintains, “no incident has occurred.” Is it the first time? No. Throughout the last years the rainbow community has already met in other parts of Spain, such as La Rioja, The Sierra de Grazalema either Cerulledain León. In fact, this is not the first time that its members visit Abellada. They already did during the summer 2016 (between July and August), when a hundred and a half people gathered in the abandoned village. The newspaper Herald dedicated them at the time A chronicle in which he explained that the camp had also mounted illegally and began to deploy around a bonfire in the Sierra de Guara Park. “Spanish anti -fire regulations do not allow fire. However, we believe that the natural environment is our home and the system is removing it,” reasoned Then one of the members of the community in one of his forums. “We don’t know who they are”. The memory of that camp has served to increase the controversy now. In 2016 the camp was accompanied by cars and vans that ended parked In the accesses to the villages of the Guarguera and complicating the passage through some roads, for the anger of the neighbors. “It is not just a matter of space, we do not know who they are or what impact they can have in the area,” warn now A resident to eldiario.es. Images | Wikipedia, Guano (Flickr) and Satemkemet (Flickr) In Xataka | Remote town of Segovia is sold for 180,000 euros. Just for what it shows on Google Maps is already worth it

There is only one correct way to place the toilet paper. A patent ended the debate in 1891

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We have been freeing all kinds of battles, and in some cases the response passed between disputes of each other. Among those debates there is one that never seems to disappear because both sides have it as clear. We refer to toilet paper and correct way to hang it. If we take decades to achieve a significant advance of the roll, it makes sense that the controversy has endured. The funny thing is that the answer was from the beginning. A “war” of the century and a half. Eternal dispute over How to hang up The toilet paper (with the “above” or “below” sheet) has generated opinions found, family debates and even discussions lit. Those who prefer the “OVER” method (above) Feel practical and hygienic reasons: it is easier to locate the end of the paper, reduce the risk of wall contact (and therefore with germs) and is visually more orderly. However, on the other sidewalk, the supporters of the “under” (below) appeal to a more discreet appearance and the fact that, for example, it makes it difficult for pets or children at home unwind the whole paper. An enlightened invention. However, all this controversy seems to have found an official response in an unexpected place: a document more than 130 years ago. In 2015, writer Owen Williams He rescued an image historical of Google Patents Archives which showed the patent recorded in 1891 by Seth Wheeler, nothing more and nothing less than the inventor of the perforated toilet paper. In it, it is clearly enlightened how the paper should be hung: above the roll (image below). The patent, registered by Albany Perforated Wraping Paper Company, includes unequivocal diagrams in which the paper unwinds from the front. The Wheeler patent Wheeler’s reasons. The inventor not only patented the concept of perforated paper in 1871, but, two decades later, perfected the roll design, with the intention of minimizing waste and facilitating its use without the need for complicated portarrolls. Your goal It was efficiencydo not feed endless debates: “My improved roll can be used in simpler supports,” wrote in the text of the patent. In its original conception, the paper had to fall forward to facilitate the individual tear of the perforated leaves, thus avoiding accidental unwinders or an unnecessary waste. Yes, Nokia played toilet paper before mobile Rescue science. There are more data that corroborate that the “pro-insane” are right. Science also supports this orientation for purely health reasons. According to Dr. Christian Moro explainedProfessor of Health Sciences at the Bond University, hanging the paper with the blade above reduces the risk that users touch the rear wall of the support when looking for the end of the roll, which can minimize that propagation of bacteria. Moro remembered that among the potential infection agents which can be found in the bathrooms are streptococcus, staphylococcus, E. coli and common cold viruses, all capable of transmitting through contact with contaminated surfaces. Preventing the hands from entering unnecessary contact with the wall or roll support is, therefore, a simple but effective measure to reduce the risk of infection in shared spaces. An invention … to review? Beyond the debate on how it should be placed, in recent years others have appeared around the invention. Explained the New York Times In a column that although its invention represented at the time a technical improvement with respect to previous methods (which included, attention, leaves, marine shells, sticks with sponges or even reusable ceramics), the persistence of its use reveals less a functional efficacy than a cultural resistance to abandoning the family. Here appears the Covid-19 Pandemia, at which time the toilet paper acquired An unusual prominence: Not because of its medical utility, but as a symbol of control against chaos. The Collective hysteria He led to empty shelves, ignoring that neither the supply was threatened nor the role was the most hygienic solution. And despite this, experts agree that it is far from being the cleanest or healthier option. The evidence. The Times explained That researchers in infectious diseases and colorectal health agree that the exclusive use of paper does not guarantee adequate cleaning and can, in fact, cause irritations and favor disease transmission. Among the pathogenic agents that can survive in poorly eliminated fecal remains are those germs and bacteria that we comment before and that are the cause of urinary infections. Even traces of the same were detected Coronavirus at the time in human feces. According to Dr. H. Randolph Bailey, colorectal surgeon in Houston, many anal ailments that he observes in consultation come from Excessive cleaning or with inappropriate products, such as wet wipes with irritating perfumes and chemicals. Water as a solution. Here a parallel debate opens, surely more bitter. The reason? The most hygienic method, according to many specialists, is the rinse with water, either by drums or similar. In Japan, for example, smart toilets with jets of warm water They are the normwhile in the West adoption remains marginal. The reasons are not technical or economic (today there are compact and accessible solutions), but rather cultural. Bidé rejection has been historically associated with prejudices of modest During World War IIwhen American soldiers met the bida in French brotheses, which made them “suspect” objects. The anecdote of an American tourist who confused it with a bathtub For babies illustrates to what extent the discomfort in the face of the unknown has stopped its adoption, even in France, where it was originally common. O Tallitas. In recent times a “plan C” has emerged in front of the fundamentalists of roll or water: wet wipes. The problem is that it has been accompanied by Environmental consequences. Its accumulation in sewerage networks, combined with fat and waste, has given rise to huge obstructions (known in the world Anglo as “Fatbergs“) capable of collapsing urban sanitation systems. Under that prism, instead of improving the panorama, the wipes have added a new problem to another already existing one, fed by an industry that promotes … Read more

While almost all Spain immersed in chaos, a place continued to function normally: Mercadona

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We are on Monday, April 28, 2025. Spain suffers the effects of a Mass blackout which has a good part of the country’s industry and commerce. All? No! A Valencian chain of irreducible supermarkets remains open and even speaks of “normality” in the middle of the chaos. His name: Mercadona. Under his label, the lack of supply that yesterday stopped the activity of other chains in the sector resulted in something different: Customer queues, Full carts and razed baldas. His They were not the only premises that followed at the foot of the canyon (Carrefour, Alcampo or El Corte Inglés had operational establishments), but it did stand out on a key front: neighborhood stores, closer to the citizen, which gave it considerable visibility. The big question is … How did he do it? Of blackouts and urgent purchases. If something demonstrated the pandemic, just five years ago, it is that the Spaniards do not like to play it. In exceptional situations, such as the announcement of an alarm or A mass blackout that leaves much of the peninsula without electricity for hours, we leave home, we go to the supermarket and We buy what is necessary To fill our fridge. Even in days like yesterday in which the fridge served rather. X is a barbarian mirror of that answer. A quick search shows tens of videos of saturated stores, long lines, empty shelves And people with loaded carts of water carafes. The funny thing is that all these videos are recorded in the same place: Mercadona. That the images have left some of their 1,600 establishments It is not surprising. Roig’s premises were operational and with supply while those of other firms in the sector They remained closed. “The bunkers would be landowned”. The situation was so curious and in a way he remembered the first days of the pandemic, that there were those who threw a sneer in networks. “Spain collapsed and Mercadona today running even with datáphones”, He joked in x Álvaro Wasabi. “If Fallout’s apocalypse was fulfilled, zero doubts that bunkers would be landowned.” “Mercadona when something extraordinary occurs and people believe they should buy toilet paper for 50 years,” Comments Nebreda Italohispano Next to an image of a pool crowded with people. “As with each catastrophe, the only one who has won with the #Cortedeluz is Mercadona,” Add in another tweet Eduardo Bernal. A unique case? No. Mercadona is perhaps the chain that has generated more expectation and comments in networks, but It is not the only that yesterday managed to keep operational at least part of his network of stores. The English Court was also able to open department stores thanks to the use of structure, as well as Alcampo or Carrefour, who served in hypermarkets and part of his supermarkets. Other chains did not run the same fate with wide implementation in Spain, such as Lidl, Eroski or Day, than They were forced To lower the blind at least its smallest stores. Precisely if something has made the networks look at Mercadona is that it managed to maintain local neighborhood operations, not only large hypermarkets located in polygons or the outskirts of the cities. But and that … why? In Xataka we have contacted Mercadona to know which equipment they have exactly in their stores and how they could keep them active in the mass blackout. Waiting for these clarifications, the company’s environment has already sliding Some clues. The key is in its generators, which at least in a good number of stores allowed to maintain the uploaded blinds, operational boxes and even make charges with dataphone, an impossible option in other businesses and that made yesterday The cash was imposed (very briefly) to payment with cards or mobile. “Today we open”. In the last hours the company assured to Expansion that all their places were “open” and functioning with “normality.” Moreover, while other stores were forced to close the doors waiting for the supply to be reactivated, the abnormality in the Mercadona premises was marked by a different reality: a customer “boom”. This morning the company A tweet uploaded With photos of his shelves answered and a message: “Today we open.” Adapting to the stage. One of the keys to Mercadona’s response, says one of his employees to Xataka, is his flexibility when adapting. The stores could work thanks to the existence of their own generators, but that does not mean that (at least in some cases) the operation was the “normal”: automatic tapes were dispensed with in the boxes and part of the merchandise took the cameras to avoid spoiling and saving energy consumption. “Under minimums tried to leave essential things,” he explains. “Everything works. What happens is that the consumption is minimized to serve the customer (…). The lights were more faint than usual to save also.” Refrigerators. “The refrigerators have been emptying them throughout the day to get into the refrigeration chamber or in the frozen and be able to turn them off and that only large cameras work, which is where more merchandise can be maintained in good condition,” details the same employee. “As that merchandise is removed, the refrigerators are turned off to save electricity.” At least in its store, he recounts, the company has consulted employees if they could enter a little earlier than usual to recover normality. Bathroom tails and prepared dishes. That Mercadona remained operational while other businesses were forced to close the door turned their premises, in a way, more than supermarkets. After visiting one of the stores in the center of Barcelona, ​​a reporter of The country He spoke yesterday In the afternoon of queues in the bathrooms and people eating dishes prepared in tables with stools. Images | Xataka In Xataka | The blackout in Spain has demonstrated which is the ideal means to inform in a crisis: the radio

China had been buying tons and tons of soy to the US for years. A country has won in place: Brazil

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China likes American soybeans. A lot. Every year matters from the fields of Illinois, Minnesota or Iowa Millions of tons From a crop that is consumed directly in pod, it is processed or is intended to feed cattle. The problem is that in full Commercial Warand with him Tariff crossing Of more than 100% applied by Washington and Beijing to their respective exports, that American grain will probably stop being attractive in Chinese factories. It has already happened years ago, during the commercial war of the first mandate of Donald Trump. And then, as now, China began to look with increasing interest other sources of soybeans. Which is it? Argentina and especially Brazil. A figure: 27 million. He Tariff pulse Between the US and China, which has resulted in a rise in encumbrances of more than 100% to the commercial flow in both directions, threatens to hit a key merchandise: soybeans. The reason is very simple. American farmers sell a lot, a lot of soy to the Asian giant. In 2024 that flow exceeded 27 million tons metrics, with a value of 12.8 billion dollars. Moreover, oleaginous seeds (group that includes soy) were one of the main US exports to China in terms of value. Two years ago, the US-China Business Council calculated that, together, oleaginous seeds and cereals represent the largest export of the US to China, with a value that was then ascended to 25.4 billion. To have a clearer image of what soybeans supposes in those accounts, The New York Times Precise that last year mobilized nine cents of each dollar of goods that the US sold in China. USDA data shows that the Asian country monopolizes Something more than 40% of the Total US Soy Sales. A percentage: 135%. That is the rise of tariffs that will have to deal with that huge flow of American grain to China from now on. The percentage is the sum of two increases: the 10% imposed by Beijing in March to the importation of certain agricultural products and The extra 125% With which, already in recent weeks, he responded to the escalation of the commercial war with the US. The question they leave by driving those rise in levies is obvious: how will it affect the flow of American soybeans? Will it remain attractive to the Chinese market with that 135% rates? The issue has generated expectation between The analysts And of course Farmers worry From the US, a good part of them installed in states that, such as Iowa, Indiana or Ohio, are important soy producers and last November they voted for Donald Trump. “We deal with bad weather, pests, tractor breakdowns,” he lamented recently Heather Feuerstein, owner of a Tnyt Michigan farm. To all these challenges are now added tariffs, which in their opinion suppose “a threat” for their way of life. One date: 2017. While the tariff pulse with which he has started 2025 is being particularly intense, it is not the first time that Feuerstein and the rest of his colleagues are seen in a similar situation. Years ago, during his first presidential mandate, Trump has already started a commercial war with China that fully affected soy exports. As? Leading Beijing to bet on other suppliers and reducing the flow of grain ‘made in USA’. Nikkei precise which in 2017 was behind almost 40% of Chinese imports. Although the commercial flow remains high, in 2024 that figure was already 20%. Recently the CNN elaborated A detailed graph in which it shows that between 2017 and 2018 the US soybeans exports to China foster from 31.7 million metric tons to 8.24. Since then the flow has been recovered until it is located at 27.2 last year, although the data remains below the one registered before Trump’s first mandate. In general, from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) esteem that the commercial war caused direct losses to the US agricultural exports that exceeded the 27,000 million of dollars between 2018 and 2019. A country: Brazil. Every war has its winners. And the commercial open years between the US and China has a very clear one if we talk about soybean trade: Brazil. He same graph The CNN shows that as US exports lost bellows those of Brazilian grain shot. From 2016 to 2018 the flow destined for China rose to 68.6 million metric tons and in 2024 the 72.5 million tons were exceeded, well above the US export levels. In general, it is estimated that in recent years China increased 35% Its annual imports of Brazilian soybeans while they reduced the Americans by 14%. If the growth is ever seen the growth was Very superior. What does that mean? That in 2017, Brazilian soybeans supposed about 50% of its imports for China, now Round and 70%. A reflection “will have to acquire more”: “If you can’t get it from the United States, you will have to acquire more than Brazil. And they will have to pay more,” Comment to Tnyt Neusa Lopes, agricultural tour directive, an outstanding soy producer of the state of Mato Grosso, in Brazil. The truth is that the commercial war comes after, at the end of 2024, XI made a state visit to Brazil to strengthen ties between the two countries and the Brazilian Association of Soy Producers I confirmed recently that at the beginning of the month the Asian giant signed contracts for millions of tons of grain. Beyond Brazil, There are analysts They point out that Beijing could rely on Argentina, Another great producer. Between what happened eight years ago and the current scenario there is however An important difference. After years of commercial flow between China and Brazil, today the first one has much easier to stock up on the crops of the South American country. The Asian giant has invested in warehouses, railways, ports and other infrastructure that facilitates the transfer of Brazilian soybeans in Chinese ships. The clearest example is the great open terminal this year in the … Read more

make cities a good place to live

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When Daniel Knowles He began writing his book about the car industry, the world had been silent. Millions of people were locked at home, unemployment rates shot up, the streets cleared and wild animals returned to the desert center of the cities. The situation was so new that it could be dream that so much pain, death and uncertainty was going to open the door to a new world. It did not spend much time until we discovered that ‘dreaming’ was the key, which was nothing more than a ground. Two years later, while Knowles ended the book (‘Carmageddon‘, Captain Swing, 2025), “The world economy was booming, traffic had returned to the previous levels of pandemic and oil had prices (maximums) that were not seen in a decade. There were no other futures to fight for? A turning point. If two or three years ago, this correspondent of The Economist thought that we lived a turning point, it seems a good idea to return to their ideas to solve the cities crisis: that moment of change has only lengthened. But … what cities crisis? We can be living A world demographic crisisYeah; But the urban population is growing forced marches: in 2007, half of humanity already lived in cities for the first time. Now we are 55% and will reach 66% before 2050. What crisis is this? Well, As Rodríguez Seijo said right herea much more sibyline suris: than urban ecosystems “have become large centers of resource consumption, and in production areas and emission of potentially polluting substances.” And yes, it is true, “since 2000, one of the main pollutants in urban environments, the lead of gasoline, old housing paints or pipes” has been eliminated or reduced; However, “there are many organic and inorganic pollutants that continue to cause different health problems and that cause millions of deaths a year.” That is the true crisis. A crisis of at least seven million deaths a year. That was what the poor air quality, driven by the transport industry, caused In urban environments only in 2012. Hence, specialists like Knowles argue that “the expansion of the car has gone too far and must be stopped.” Freen it? Can we stop it? Rodríguez Seijo, Reflecting on the causes that “cities are killing us”he concluded that “the absence of planning” is one “of the great challenges facing urban populations.” That’s where Knowles ideas shine more. “I believe, without any doubt, that a largely populated city is the best place to live in most cases both for my own good and for that of the planet,” The journalist concluded After visiting more than half a dozen countries. Moreover, “there is no good reason for the sustainable option – living in an apartment or in a good -sized attached house in a neighborhood that can walk, bike and use public transport to move – it has to be so expensive and, on the contrary, live in a huge single -family house and use huge amounts of natural resources is the cheapest option.” This sounds a bit difficult to implement. And Knowles agree. In fact, as repeatedly defends, we do not have to reproduce Tokyo on each part of the planet. “Nor do we have to start to pieces the highways or impose draconian norms such as the Singapore enrollment lottery.” Even so, there is one thing that can be done to get cities Be healthier sites to live: Reorient the incentives towards the purpose they should have. There are hundreds of ideas. French taxes on cars according to weight, the Dutch reform to give priority to pedestrians or london congestion rates. It is definitely to realize that people take centuries Trying to go to live to the cities; that, in fact, they are doing it faster and faster; And that, surely the measure with a more transformative impact today would be to turn those cities into good places to live. Image | Chris Czermak | Yeh Xintong In Xataka | The cities with skyscrapers are not the panacea. They contaminate more than those of middle heights (such as Paris)

There is a place where renewables are gaining the game left over fossil fuels: patents

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Thanks to a new project of GLOBAL RENEWABLE Watch It can be observed The rise of renewable energiesspecifically, solar and wind. However, this considerable increase in clean sources has managed to displace fossil fuels, and much of this advance is due to technological patents. The initiative. An analysis of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has detailed How renewable energy patents have increased 4.5 times faster in the last two decades, surpassing fossil fuel -based patents in number. Global policies. This increase is observed in the growth of renewable capacity and the policies focused on the commitment to achieve the Carbon neutrality. According to the study, support with public policies and public and private financing have managed to reach 60,000 million dollars in large -scale technologies, but some of these projects face challenges such as inflation and political uncertainty. A global movement. Now if you want to have a more open overview about which country has invested, the king is undoubtedly China. The country that has been leading the energy transition It has allocated half of its energy patents and more than 90% of its financing of risky capital to mass technologies, such as batteries and electrolyters. For its part, Europe follows a similar path, focusing on scale engineering projects and renewables have overcome coal. However, the United States has so far maintained a diversified portfolio that covers fossil energy technologies such as clean, but this can change the future By the current Trump administration. Other emerging sources. An area that promises according to the study is hydrogen. Patents related to the production and use of this new source increased 47% in 2022, with an approach to industrial applications such as transport and manufacturing steel. Particularly, in Spain hydrogen is taking the front as A future gas source and be able to export it through Europe. Future investment. From the study They have remarked The need to increase public investment in energy R&D, because currently the financing of the member countries of the IAE does not reach 0.04% of GDP. Researchers have pointed out that the future path is an international collaboration in development plus solutions. In addition, they have focused on other emerging technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), intelligent electrical networks and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in energy management. But there is a bottleneck. On the one hand, long -term shortage of the strategic material supply chain and the lack of infrastructure in some countries. On the other hand, the withdrawal of some large -scale projects focused on clean sources, as the case of BP. Finally, in recent days a tariff war has begun by Trump, so It will be to see how markets open. Image | Pxhere and Pexels Xataka | Now we can see the rise of renewable energy in the world: we just needed the satellite images

The “natural wine” has become fashionable. There is a place where he takes centuries without so much hype: Mass

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In 83, Juan Pablo II visited the prison of Rebibbia, in Rome, and hugged Mehmet Ali Agcathe man who had tried to kill him a couple of years before the Plaza de San Pedro. In 89, a crowd accompanies the coffins of Jesuit parents killed in El Salvador. In 2016, in the middle of Holy Thursday, Francisco washed the feet of a group of refugees from the center of Castelnuovo di Porto … There are many iconic images around the Catholic Church. But for me the image that has impacted me the most happened a couple of years ago: when I saw the priest of my town, dressed in its clerriman, buying a tetra brick of red wine in the Mercadona. Had he found the origin of Mass wine? I had never wondered where the wine that was used in the Eucharist came from and, I suppose that for that reason, that image left me completely out of charge. And as normal, a question immediately approached me: “Was it possible that this was the wine that was used in Mass?” The answer, in case there is any questions, is: no. And here this article could end: with an anecdote of Berlanga that ends “fish -shaped“But no. Because, little by one that one starts to investigate, the history of sacred wine is really interesting. Sacred wine? Although it is true that the Catholic Church (and Christianity in general) has done a lot to take wine to any corner of the world, the sacred history of this type of broths is very long. In fact, Jesus of Nazareth came to ‘resignify’ a good handful of religious signs of common use. What is true is that it is not causality that most historical vineyards are on ecclesiastical terrain. Nor is it a coincidence that the development of the wine industry is intimately related to the comings and goings of the missionaries. Nor that the Vatican is the country that consumes the most from the world (about 45,000 liters a year for its 800 inhabitants). Wine and church have always been closely linked. And, for that reason, not any wine is worth it. Over the centuries, different criteria have been developed to know if a wine was likely to be used in the Eucharist. It is something that has been discussed extensively even in councils Like Florence of 1438. However, it was not until the nineteenth century when the Church (with the industrialization of the world of wine) began to take the idea of ​​establishing criteria that ensure the liturgical purity of wine. In fact, until 1959, as was the case with other things such as togas or candles, there were ecclesiastical certificates very difficult to achieve. The first certified wine was, in fact, Spanish. Prepared by Augusto de Müller Ruinart de Brimont, an Alsacian Even today is a reference in the sector. Maybe Do not be the best sellingworse is the one who has the most history (and It costs less than seven euros). In search of purity. The current Roman Missal is quite clear Around the wine that can be used: “It must be the result of the mature or passage grapes and without artificial additions such as preservatives, dyes, sugars, clarifying or juices. On the other hand, sulphites such as antioxidants or wine distilled to increase alcohol content, which should not exceed 18 degrees,” are allowed to add. The idea is to produce a wine that looks, in one way or another, which it has been using since time immemorial. The problem is that this means challenges that new wine techniques and enologies try to solve: The natural wine boom is part of the same game. Innovation that a bottle of natural wine can be surprising is still surprising. The color and taste depend on the winery. And from which he buys it. A background lesson. Because beyond the curiosity of who produces a product like this, the history of Mass wine tells us about how technological development is truffled with values, ideologies, religious beliefs and social configurations. Here it is seen in a simple way (the composition of the wine consumed by millions of people is discussed in ecumenical councils), but it is not so different from what operates in the natural wine that so fashionable has been put. Not many of the technological decisions of our day to day. History is always more complicated than it seems. Image | Mateus Campos Felipe In Xataka | Andalusia is very proud of its Holy Week. So much that he wants to start teaching it in schools

In 2007, Better Place said to recharge an electric car in five minutes. This is the story of a loud failure

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Nio and Catl have reached an agreement to implement the largest battery exchange network in the world. “The most extensive and advanced,” Catl announced in a statement collected by The avant -garde. The project comes from afar. In 2020Nio already presumed that he could change the battery of his electric cars in three minutes. Since then, we had not known the project beyond In 2022 The electric cars company made noise with this issue. By then, the competition seemed served. The Geely Group, also Chinese, assured that In 2025 5,000 stations would have deployed of battery exchange. But, again, little has been known again on the matter. Until Catl has decided to trust the child project, investing 314 million euros in its battery exchange system. But although they explain that they aspire to have the “most extensive” network, the truth is that no stations numbers data have been provided. However, Nio and Catl’s proposal is not alone. In China, other companies have also tried to standardize this system and Bloomberg He calculated in 2022 that for this year some 26,000 battery exchange stations in the Asian country would have available. It is clear that there is some interest in China in keep investing in the system and technology. However, everything indicates that if there are certain recharge times of byd and are economically viable their stations, A 400 km load in five minutes You can kill the concept. If so, the system would go to a better life. A system that has already been touched almost 20 years ago and that failed irremediably when, ironically, more fault. A little context with a battalion When a person tells me that an electric car does not serve to travel and, above all, he tells me that they will not be in a long time, I usually tell an experience. At the end of 2019 I participated a project to join all the provincial capitals of the Iberian Peninsula by electric car. It was about demonstrating that the network had advanced and that the second generation of Nissan Leaf was a much more capable car. Turning among colleagues, it was late as little as possible. We get it yes, but it is also true that the challenge took us Almost seven days Although we stopped just and necessary to recharge the car. We ate as the car was loaded and slept while the car drank from the plugs. I remember calling a gas station to ask please open a plug even though we arrived after the service station had closed. We had no choice. For Todo Teruel there was only one public charger available. That charger had to open with a key the employees of the gas station. They asked us that at the end we would leave the hidden key. Once the load was finished, Nissan’s electric should have almost 400 kilometers available on a 62 kWh battery. The truth is that we stopped every 200-250 km to take advantage of the fastest part of the recharge unless we would like to sleep in the middle of the trip. Today, in Teruel and its surroundings, there are More than 25 public plugs available according to Electromaps. A few kilometers from the city, next to the highway, one carries 100 kW. Two other closest plugs can load a maximum of 350 kW if your car admits it. That Nissan Leaf, tells us Km77it would have taken 90 minutes to go from 0 to 80% of the battery charge. Today, most cars with 60-70 kWh battery capacity would recover the load up to 80% in about 20 minutes. I count all this battalion because, believe me, if I had had a Better Place battery exchange station on hand, I would have used it. Too bad that when we got into that jaleo, the project had been dead for six years. In just over a five years, the electric car market in Spain has changed completely. And although the recharge network You have to keep improvingright now it is easy to travel to any point in the country if the car has more than 60 kWh battery capacity. The minimum required to travel if we are going to make the recommended stops every two hours or 200 kilometers. What happened to Better Place? We explained all this because it is important to know the context. Having an electric car and traveling with him makes just over a five years ago was a real headache. Now, imagine that you are in 2007 and someone has said that those cars that barely do 200 kilometers in the best case and take a whole night to load are the future. What would you think? You have to look for ways to reduce loading times. And that same idea had Shai Agassi. This Israeli businessman saw that there was a business road. The electric car began to make its way but without recharge points and with times of the same too extensive, the project was unfeasible. He decided that he would create something as simple and as groundbreaking as a battery exchange station. The theory was perfect on paper: you arrive with your car and you don’t have to worry about standing for hours. In a few minutes the car would be ready to travel another 150-200 kilometers. In practice, the car was something like taking it to a wash tunnel. You entered the station after saving a barrier. Inside, The machine extracted the car battery and “sealed” it with another already loaded. An auxiliary space was needed to recharge the batteries that were interspersed. The proposal received immediate support. Different investors came to put 650 million euros in total. In 2013 the company declared bankruptcy after raising just over five million euros. Along the way, yes, I had attracted Renault’s interest. The French company adapted its Renault Fluence to function as an electric car. He put the surname ZE and the car was compatible with the battery … Read more

Madrid only produces 4.8% of the energy it consumes, but has found a place to solve it: the subsoil

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In 1980, a group of geologists set out to investigate the depths of Madrid and I did not speak of the Movebut discover if under its soil there was oil. The black gold fever had reached the Castilian plateau. However, what seemed like a dream of energy self -sufficiency ended up opening the door to unexpected energy. Today, that story continues to be written, but with a turn that nobody anticipated. The search. One of the first and most serious drilling attempts was the one made by Shell in 1980 in the well known as “El Pradillo-1” where no hydrocarbons were found. At that time the Spanish capital dreamed of becoming an oil city attentive to the prevalence of fossil fuel above other alternatives at that time not yet sufficiently exploited. More than 3,500 meters deep, engineers did not find oil but very valuable data about the subsoil temperature, which gave rise to the exploration of geothermal energy. Thus, They found a geothermal aquifer with temperatures between 70ºC and 90ºC at depths that range between 1,500 and 2,150 meters. Over the years, More perforations were performed In nearby areas, such as three songs, San Sebastián de los Reyes and Geomadrid-1, where multicapa aquifers found with temperatures to produce geothermal energy. Although exploitation has not yet been developed on a large scale, investigations continue, and this renewable resource is expected to be used in the future as an alternative energy source in Madrid. Among the pros of this discovery, intrinsic characteristics of this type of clean energy that are based on the use of heat stored in groundwater stand out to generate electricity and for homes. But why isn’t it exploited? Despite the discovery of a significant geothermal potential in the Madrid subsoil, the exploitation of this energy source has not yet developed on a large scale Due to several factors Among those that include, in the first place, the high cost of initial investigations and perforations, the infrastructure necessary to take advantage of the heat of the subsoil efficiently, such as the construction of geothermal plants and water reinjection systems. Energy comes from other communities. Madrid only produces 4.8% of the energy it consumes. This fact only represents the urgency that the Autonomous Community should have to resolve the scarce of alternatives to meet its domestic demand. At present, the ranquin between the communities that more depends on the energy of other areas. If the Madrid region will diversify its energy mix through the use of geothermal energy, not only would it increase its self -sufficiency, but also contribute to a more balanced energy model between the different autonomous communities with economic redundancies throughout the country. In addition, it would lead to rethinking The installation of data centersamong other alternatives, and would reduce Energy generation concentration In certain areas of the country, the pressure on energy transport and distribution infrastructures, which would benefit the entire national energy system by reducing the carbon footprint. The forecasts. With the progress of drilling technologies and improvements in thermal use systems, such as geothermal heat pumps, Madrid could already be able to begin to take advantage of their geothermal resources more efficiently. This is what the Basque Country has done with Geothermal rings at the university. Another possible alternative is to take an example to Iceland, which has turned geothermal energy at the base of its energy model, representing 66% of the total primary energy consumption of the country. Image | Unspash and Unspash Xataka | Huelva has been the forgotten industrial pole of Spain for decades. We are realizing the consequences

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